Hackney Heroes: A Sponsored Rebel Walk

This isn’t just a walk. It’s a journey through defiance, creativity, and the people who refused to accept the world as it was.

Hackney Heroes: A Sponsored Rebel Walk is a unique fundraising event in support of WORLDwrite—where every step uncovers the stories of radicals, reformers, and cultural icons who helped shape the world we live in today. The walk is being filmed, capturing the spirit, voices, and energy of everyone taking part—so your support will help bring these powerful stories to a wider audience.

We begin at the atmospheric Abney Park Cemetery, one of London’s “Magnificent Seven” burial grounds. Beneath its trees lie thousands of pioneers who challenged injustice and pushed for change—figures like abolitionist Henry Richard and Joanna Vassa, daughter of the formerly enslaved writer and campaigner Olaudah Equiano. This is where our walk—and our reflection on courage—begins.

From there, we trace the footsteps of thinkers and revolutionaries who reshaped ideas and societies. We’ll encounter the legacy of feminist trailblazer Mary Wollstonecraft, writer and educator Anna Letitia Barbauld, and their contemporary Dr. Richard Price, whose ideas helped influence the foundations of modern democracy.

Our journey ends at The Premises Studios—a creative hub alive with musical history. From jazz legend Dave Brubeck and fusion pioneer Billy Cobham to soul great Al Green and the incomparable Amy Winehouse, its walls have echoed with extraordinary talent. Artists such as The Clash, Annie Lennox, and the Pet Shop Boys have also worked within these spaces. And in the late 1990s, the iconic Nina Simone rehearsed here—bringing her unmistakable voice for both music and civil rights into the heart of Hackney.

Why your support matters

This sponsored walk is about more than distance. It’s about connecting past and present, celebrating voices that changed the world, and inspiring new ones to do the same. By sponsoring this walk, you are directly supporting WORLDwrite’s mission to create educational films and projects that challenge, inform, and inspire.

Every donation—large or small—will help turn this walk into shared story that reaches far beyond Hackney.

Please sponsor us

Your support will help bring these remarkable histories to life and ensure that the spirit of curiosity, creativity, and courage continues to reach new audiences.

Thank you